Two weeks ago, my man Buckwheat called me from the road in British Columbia and mentioned that his borrowed bike was stolen during his walk/bike/canoe trip from Florida to the Bering Sea. I asked people to help pitch in to pay off the cost for him. Some of you sent in your money. Others had pledged a bunch more. Beth Bragg agreed to write a column about it in the Anchorage Daily News. Word got around, and then some.
Sockeye Cycles in Haines wrote off the loaner bike as a donation to Buckwheat's effort to raise money for the clinic in Skagway. Everybody who gave money told me they wanted it to be forwarded to the clinic fund. Those who had pledged money were either encouraged to send their donations to the clinic, or indicated they were helping Buckwheat in other ways.
And the folks in Fort St. John, B.C.? They weren't too thrilled to be known as the town where a good guy got ripped off, so city officials issued a proclamation in support of Buckwheat's cause, and bought the man a new Kona!
The local radio station called 100.1 Moose FM sent a guy out on the Alaska Highway to present the bike and interview Skagway's finest. Read Buckwheat's tale of the whole affair, and then listen to the interview to hear a very happy man, and to hear the real reason you're paying so much for gasoline these days.
Thanks to everyone who made all of this happen over the past two weeks. Somewhere out there on a highway in the Yukon Territory, I know Buckwheat's howlin' and smilin' every time he thinks about it.
2 comments:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2172755,00.html
I think a round of applause is in order -- one for Buckwheat -- and one for Tim for helping out.
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